Artà is also a common, one of the least densely populated of Mallorca, with 43 inhabitants per km². The municipality of Artà includes the town of Artà (about 6000 inhabitants), the village of Colónia de Sant Pere (500 inhabitants) and four other small communities. The town is largely unspoiled by tourism development of the island.

The name "artà" comes from an Arabic word "yartan" (حديقة), meaning "garden". Under the Moorish occupation, the name signified the whole district was one of the thirteen districts of the Muslim Mallorca. This Moorish district already included the territories of Capdepera and Son Servera, which ended in the nineteenth century.

The Moorish fortress, located on the Puig de Sant Salvador, called the Almudaina. King Jaume I, who conquered Mallorca in 1229, called the Almudaina d'Artano. The city, which grew at the foot of the fortress, retained the name Almudaina until the late fifteenth century.

The name of Artà (in Catalan Spanish) is written Artá in Castilian Spanish.

The inhabitants of Artà are called artanenc for men and artanenca for women.

The municipality of Artà occupies the western part of the peninsula of the Levant, north of Mallorca, bordering the Bay of Alcúdia (Badia d'Alcúdia). The north coast of the municipality lies on the Mediterranean Sea facing the neighboring island of Menorca.

More than half of the territory of the town is occupied by the Serra Artana or Massif of Artà (Massís d'Artà), the highest and most compact of the mountain massif of the Serres de Llevant. It includes the highest peak in the Llevant, the Talaia Freda (564 m).

The city of Artà lies in the middle of a vast plain dominated by a hill on which stands the fortress of Sant Salvador. The plain of Artà is closed by peripheral mountain ranges and a contrasting coastline, alternating dune systems and rocky headlands.

The municipality of Artà borders the municipalities of Capdepera, east, and Son Servera, southeast. Until the nineteenth century the two municipalities were part of the municipality of Artà, which covered the entire peninsula of Levant. Southwest, Artà borders the towns of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar and Petra. To the west, the Torrent de na Borges marks the boundary of the municipality of Artà and the municipality of Santa Margalida, near the village of Son Serra de Marina.

The old town of Artà is a quiet town, dominated by the walls of the medieval fortress of Sant Salvador perched on a hill in the city, its maze of narrow streets is marked by the mansions of masters possesiós these large agricultural areas made the prosperity of the town.

Artà remained away from the tourist bustle of the coast Capdepera and faithful to its traditions, as the festival of Sant Antoni, with his demons and bonfires, crafts weaving palm, and revenue Typical as pies, sausages (sobrassadas) or robiols (sweet ravioli of Holy Week).

The Sanctuary Sant Salvador

The Sanctuary of Sant Salvador is the most emblematic of Artà that dominates the top of Puig de Sant Salvador site.

The parish church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is on the foothills of the Puig de Sant Salvador, halfway Sant Salvador sanctuary that stands high hilltop. Stations of the Cross, in the form of monumental staircase connects the Church of the Transfiguration to the sanctuary. The front of the church with a beautiful view over the city of Artà.

The construction of the església de la Transfiguració del Senyor began in 1573 to replace the old parish church of the thirteenth century (1248) became too small. In the early seventeenth century, the work focused on the construction of the apse of the church bell tower, twenty-five feet high, attached to the bedside, also dates from the seventeenth century. The entire nave and its vault was not completed until the early nineteenth century (1816).

The building is neo-Gothic style, two lateral towers frame the front facing the plain of Artà. The main portal of the facade, is known as the "Portal of Women" ("Portal de ses Dones") this portal dates from the nineteenth century and was decorated by architect Bartomeu Ferra, it has influences of Art Nouveau as its bullet-shaped, and the large rose window.

On the sides, massive arches hide the buttresses supporting the roof of the nave. On the left side there is a second gate, called the "Gate of Men" ("Portal dels Homes"). The second gate, dating from the eighteenth century, remained unfinished.

The interior of the Church of the Transfiguration is a single nave covered by a barrel vault. The altarpiece of the main altar shows various scenes of the Transfiguration of Christ on Mount Tabor. The chair of late Gothic wooden Mallorca richly carved, commands attention. Other interesting features are the baptismal font from 1672, the organ of the nineteenth century, the large rose window and stained glass of the twentieth century.

On the sides of the nave are fourteen chapels, the most remarkable is the Chapel of the Rosary.

The Franciscan Monastery of St. Anthony of Padua is located in the south-east of the city, Carrer Sant Antoni.

The Franciscan community of Artà was founded in 1585, the construction of the monastery church dates back to the seventeenth century. It is a baroque church with one nave covered by a barrel vault. Five chapels on each side of the nave.

The cloister of the monastery is square, with five Ionic columns on each side and a column at each corner. These 24 columns supporting arches sandstone. In the center of the cloister is a tank.

The Regional Museum of Artà is located next to City Hall, near the Plaça d'Espanya.

The museum, founded in 1929, is devoted to the eastern region of the island of Mallorca and includes three sections: an ethnographic section, and an archeology section of Natural History. Most of the exhibits come from donations from private collections, others were discovered during archaeological excavations that the museum has performed over time.

The ground floor houses the Natural History section with collections of stuffed birds, insects, fossils and so on.

The ethnographic section displays various objects such as textiles Mallorca, tools for spinning, tools used to craft the palm (obra de Llata) and a large collection of items made ​​from palm fiber.

On the first floor are exposed archaeological periods of pretalayotic and talayotic, especially objects found on the site of Ses Païsses : pottery, bronze, iron or bone prehistoric Mallorca. The archaeological section also contains the remains of the main Mediterranean civilizations, such as the Punic civilization (Carthaginian) and Roman civilization, which were related to Mallorca.

ß left, Mars balearicus, warrior statue, the fourth to the third century BC, discovered in Son Amer (Son Carrió town of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar).

Visit the Museu Regional d'Artà

Address: Carrer de l'Estel, 4

Phone: 00 34 971 829 778

Hours: Tuesday to Friday, from 10:00 to 13:30, Saturday from 11:00 to 13:00.

The Priory of Santa Maria de Bellpuig is 3 km southwest of the town of Artà close to the Cami Vell de Ciutat (Priory is quite difficult to find, because they are poorly reported).

The original priory dating back to the thirteenth century when, in 1230, after the conquest of Mallorca, Jaume I donated eight farms in the north of Mallorca with Preassembled canons of the Catalan abbey Bellpuig de les Avellanes of Os de Balaguer in Lleida ("Fairview of the Hazelnuts"). The monastery was originally the creation of the city of Artà. The community of monks, who never exceeded ten or twelve monks, became extinct in 1425 when the mother abbey sold its land Mallorca family Joan Vivot, from Osde Balaguer. Apart from the church, the priory there are only ruins.

Basketry palm (obra de llatra) is the traditional craft of Artà. The raw material of this craft is the leaf of the palmetto is a plant native to the region, but is also cultivated in large fields around Artà.

The palmate leaves of dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis) - which reached a meter in height - is naturally flexible and robust; palms are harvested in June and July and first dried and take a yellowish color. The fins are then separated into strips and sorted according to their quality. Then the strips are soaked superior in a mixture of water and chlorine and sulfide, which whitens and makes them flexible enough to be worked. The flexible strips are then woven to make baskets, hats, hoods, bags, and so on.

The old railway line linking Manacor to Artà has been abandoned since 1921. But there is a bus line that can go take the train to Manacor, this line is synchronized with the departure of the train to Palma.